Push for reading is big day at Lowrance Elementary School

Oct 3, 2013 - Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell talks with kindergarten students at Lowrance Elementary after reading "Otis," a children's book by Loren Long, as part of Jumpstart's Read for the Record education campaign. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

Oct 3, 2013 - Lowrance Elementary students shout to show their enthusiasm for reading during an assembly at the school as part of Jumpstart's Read for the Record education campaign. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

The county mayor and the school superintendent delivered the message in person at Lowrance Elementary School on Thursday.

Reading is important, they said, and they read.

Shelby County Schools Supt. Dorsey Hopson read "Otis," Loren Long's tale of friendship between a tractor and a young calf, to the school's pre-K class.

Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell read to a kindergarten class.

The halls were decorated with red barns, tractors and the bovine character as part of "Read for the Record," a campaign sponsored by Jumpstart, a national education organization, and the nonprofit Pearson Foundation.

Ethel Morlan, library media specialist at Lowrance, said the project aimed to break a national record, with all participants reading the same book at the same time on the same day.

Hopson, who himself attended Gardenview Elementary School, said the problem in Shelby County is that fewer than 50 percent of students are reading at grade level by third grade.

"And we've got to drastically step up our game because if you're not reading on grade level by third grade there are a myriad of issues that follow that," Hopson said.

At Lowrance, there was a performance by the school choir, a rap number on reading and a rendition by the pre-K class of the classic "Old McDonald Had a Farm," a nod to the featured book's agrarian setting.

"I remember in my formative years, just the excitement of reading and how reading could take you on so many adventures and my love of travel and places and people really began when I started reading," Luttrell said.

Lowrance is on the state's list of 33 Reward Schools in Shelby County for the 2012-13 school year, a designation that recognizes academic progress in math, reading/language arts and science.

Reading proficiency has gone from 17 percent to 40 percent over the last three years, said Kelvin Bates, principal.

"We're at a point now where we together garner commitments from students, parents and our community to really push our kids to read," Bates said. "It's important here."

Morlan has two book fairs a year to raise money to reward the students who read. All of the students have reading logs, which are kept even in the summer. They are rewarded with parties and prizes.

"I tell them no matter where you are, what you're doing, you're going to be reading, whether you're at a stop sign or in the store," Morlan said. "It's the key to any and everything you want in life."